


My Kind's Your Kind

by ThoseDaysThatWill



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Andrew is telling the story, M/M, Stream of Consciousness, Winnipeg Jets, there is an excess of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 05:08:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18403736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThoseDaysThatWill/pseuds/ThoseDaysThatWill
Summary: “Fine! You want to know so bad? I’ll tell you everything. You’re going to be sorry you asked.”





	My Kind's Your Kind

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from "Maps" by Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. This was (sorta) requested by Martie. She asked for Andrew, but this is probably not what she had in mind.
> 
> This was something of an experiment, and I'm not 100% sure it was successful. I attempted and struggled with writing the bulk of this in a storytelling style, so it sounded like someone actually _telling_ the story. All grammatical errors are intentional.

“Your suit thing is going to be on today, do you want to watch it?”

Andrew shook his head, never taking his attention from the glass in his hands. It was just water, but for some reason it had caught his entire focus. Maybe because he wished it was something else. If he was going to watch that thing, he was going to need a lot stronger drink. Or two. Or three.

Mark sighed, sitting down on the couch beside him, “Do you want to talk about it?”

Andrew shook his head again, still not saying a word.

“Maybe you should.”

Andrew glanced over to him with a sigh, “Why?”

“Honestly? Because everyone else is going to be.”

Andrew could help but laugh at that, “Okay, that’s fair.”

Mark gave him a gentle smile, “As long as you two have been here, there’s been something going on, and no one knows the whole story. And people are going to be asking questions. I can help you field them if I knew what I was talking about.”

Andrew rolled his eyes, “They know as much as they need to. The whole thing is _pathetic_.”

“From what I’ve heard around the room, everyone is on your side.”

“ _Side_?” Andrew shook his head, “They don’t even know what the sides _are_. They _think_ they know, but they don’t.”

Mark took in a deep breath, “Well, you could _tell_ me. And I can help with that.”

“ _Fine!_ You want to know so bad? I’ll tell you _everything_. You’re going to be sorry you asked.”

~

When I was ten, I figured out a big piece of my life the day Jake walked onto my team. He came up to me and introduced himself and I couldn’t _speak_. I just stared at him. Didn’t tell him my name, nothing. And that pretty much set the tone for the rest of our entire relationship. I mean I did eventually figure out how to look at him _and_ keep my brain functioning, but it took a while. I’m lucky he didn’t want to be a forward, because it would have been a lot harder to ignore him during games. It was _years_ before I could actually talk to him on the bench.

But there was always Pat. _He_ could talk to anyone. And he played defense. And he was good, so of course they would always pair him with Jake, who was always the best defense on whatever team we were on. He and Pat were _best_ friends, so close, partners and all that. And Pat didn’t like me. Jake would always include me in stuff they were doing, which I guess pissed Pat off. Y’know, if it was up to him to tell me about something, he would just _forget_. But Jake… Jake always remembered me.

So, fast forward a few years, we were fourteen. We were waiting for his mom to come pick us up after practice. I was exhausted, so I sat on the ground and leaned against the brick wall and he sat beside me. We knew his mom was gonna be late, maybe she was picking up his little brother, I don’t remember, so we were just hanging out.

He looked at me, just out of the blue, and said, “You have a thing for me, don’t you?” That’s Jake, if a thought comes into his head, it comes out his mouth. He’s a little better about it now, which tells you how bad he used to be.

If I was lucky, his mom would have pulled up just then, but of course she didn’t. So, I had to think of something to say to that. And I’m not the smoothest guy on the planet, and I was even worse when I was fourteen, so I said something like, “So what if I do?”

And he smiled at me— _goddamn_ that smile—and said, “Yeah?”

And I try not to pass out, playing it as cool as I’m not, and said, “Yeah.”

“Well, maybe I have a thing for you too,” he said, totally casual, like that’s a normal thing to say.

And I didn’t drop dead on the spot, which I still consider an accomplishment. But my brilliant reply was, “Yeah?”

And he laughed—that same giggly laugh he has now—and that was the first time he kissed me. So we were kinda making out by the time his mom pulled up, which would have been really awkward, but she didn’t even look surprised. She just herded us into the car and told us to behave.

We never dated because Jake didn’t date. But he also didn’t skip an opportunity to kiss me, so I didn’t really miss out on much there. But of course, I wasn’t the only one he was doing that with, so… it was what it was. We did USDP together. You don’t need to know the details. USDP is kinda like Vegas, what happens there, stays there. The one thing I will tell you is that me and Jake slept together. I don’t know if it was his first and I’ve never asked. He and Pat could have already, I don’t know. He could have with _anyone_. I know it was _my_ first. And it kinda changed things with Jake in a weird way. He wasn't any more likely to date, but if he saw me getting attention from someone else, he’d come right up and grab me. Not violent or anything like that, just like put his hands on me. It cooled off any conversation really fast. But if I wasn’t getting attention from someone, he’d do his own thing. It wasn’t the only time he was with me, but he could pick his moments.

Jake got drafted the summer before we started playing at Michigan. He and Pat went to the draft together, I was going the next year. He texted me from his seat though and I watched it on TV. They really liked talking about him and Pat, like a human-interest story, best friends and all that. I muted it after a while. We were texting about wouldn’t it be cool if it could be Red Wings, but they didn’t even have a first-round pick that year, and Jake was too good to go lower than top ten. He went ninth. Pat went in the second round, to a Canadian team too, but I don’t remember where. It just mattered that it wasn’t Winnipeg.

I’ve always wanted to go to Michigan, so has Jake. I’m pretty crazy about Wolverine sports in general, hockey, football, whatever. So, I was very excited to be going. And even better, Pat wasn’t going. He decided to do Canadian Juniors instead. I don’t think Michigan offered him anything. So anyway, me and Jake roomed together at school, and that was… a really good year. Probably the most together we ever were, maybe second, but I’ll get to that.

Then it was my draft and… he and I talked a lot about it. I mean I knew I wasn’t going high, so there were a lot of possibilities of where I could go. I wasn’t going to be on TV, so he decided that he wanted to come with me. First round, that was Josh, I knew I wouldn’t go there. The second, _maybe_ , but no.

So, by this time, Jake was positive I was going to Winnipeg or Detroit, no other options. And the whole third round went by and he got pissed. And he looked at me and said, “You’re gonna go someplace crappy.”

I think I laughed, said something about how I didn’t really care, that I just wanted to _get_ drafted. So, we get into the fourth round, 104th was Winnipeg, and he looked at me and said, “This is you.” And I remember laughing, but he was right. They picked me. And I remember thinking… what power was out there that kept us together, all growing up, Michigan, and now drafted by the same team. What more message did we need?

So, then Jake goes to Winnipeg and I go back to Michigan. And we’re on the phone all the time, but he’s Jake, and he’s gonna do his thing. And I acted like I didn’t care, because it wouldn’t have mattered if I did. So, my Junior year, I was named Captain, which was pretty cool. And I tried to do my thing, but every time I tried, I thought about Jake and… that didn’t work. I know he was doing… whatever, so I told him I was too. Yeah, I know that’s pretty pathetic, but I did.

When I got here, he already had a place, so he asked me if I want to move in. Obviously, I did, and I never actually _slept_ in that room that was supposed to be mine. And then we were road roommates, too. And things were good, I thought. We were together pretty much 24/7, except that sometimes on the road, he wouldn’t go back to the room from the arena, but it wasn’t a team thing. He’d get into my bed when he got back, so I didn’t really have much of a complaint. I had a really good rookie year, at least personally. It wasn’t too bad hockey-wise either.

~

“But I guess it didn’t work for Jake. Another year and then he needed _space_. You know when I moved in here. But I guess not _too much_ space, because you know how often I don’t come back at night.” Andrew gave a very deep sigh, “So that’s the story. Are you glad you know now?”

Mark was silent for a moment. “Do… do you know that you deserve so much better?”

Andrew laughed, “Of course I know that. I also know that I’m in love with him.”


End file.
